“And the LORD said to me, ‘Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.’”
Hosea 3:1
One of the purposes of the book of Hosea is to demonstrate God’s unending love towards a sinful nation. God commands His servant, Hosea, to marry Gomer, a woman with an immoral reputation.
Hosea takes Gomer as his wife. He takes her out of whoredom, gives her a place to live, and loves her recklessly. Hosea’s faithful love to his faithless wife is evident through out Scripture.
In this verse, God tells his servant to love Gomer—a difficult task for anyone. Scripture reveals love to be everything we are not.
“Love is patient and kind; love does not boast; it is not arrogant or rude; it does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.”
1 Corinthians 13:4-8a
God commands Hosea to be all of this towards Gomer. In the times when she remained at home as his wife, but, especially, during the times that she forsook her new identity to revert to her past identity (a prostitute of ill-repute). Gomer was given everything! She was made a mother and wife, given a home, and taken off the streets. Often, this woman would forget the cost of her redemption. No matter what happened, Hosea would pursue his wife and take her back again.
Hosea’s relentless love for his wife was truly beautiful. Hosea was just a man. God loves us a lot more simply because He is God and He is love. God planned out our story of salvation. He knew what our marriage to Him would look like. The romance, the proposal, the engagement, the wedding, the honeymoon, and the life-long commitment were all planned before we said, “I do” to Jesus.
“…but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:8
While we were still sinners Christ died for us so we could be reconciled to the Father. God created us. As if that wasn’t enough, Christ shed His blood for us, purchasing us back from the bondage of sin. After receiving a new identity in Christ, we still fall short and may revert to our old sinful behavior.
Why?
When our focus diverts from being on Jesus to fulfilling our fleshly desires, we return to the “comfort” of sinful actions.
Why?
Disunity between mind and heart, flesh and spirit. We may know God is good and His grace is enough for us, but do we believe it? Faith gets real when it is tested.
When life with Jesus gets difficult, one of my first reactions is to become anxious. I want to take control of my life. The truth is that control is not mine to take. I will either serve Jesus or be a slave to Satan. There is no in-between. I return to anxiety because it is “comfortable.” It is comfortable because it is what I know. Trusting God means having faith. Faith is hoping in what is unseen.
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
Hebrews 11:1
Did Gomer truly believe she was no longer a prostitute? Did she truly believe she was redeemed and given a new identity? Are you like Gomer? Do you return to sinful behaviors because they are “comfortable”?
God’s pursuit didn’t stop the day we said, “I do.” Love is a commitment. He wouldn’t stop there. He draws near to us when we draw near to Him. Although we act like Gomer, God will pursue us like Hosea. He knew the sins we would commit—past and future—and still chose to forgive us. Will we take the leap of faith and believe we are who God says we are?
REDEEMED. SET FREE. A ROYAL PRIESTHOOD. SON. DAUGHTER. HOLY. A SAINT. CHILD OF GOD. FRIEND. JUSTIFIED. CO-HEIR WITH CHRIST. NO LONGER A SLAVE TO SIN. NEW CREATION. CHOSEN. BLAMELESS. BELOVED. DELIGHT.
